(I find it interesting that we see crowds of thousands of people listening to Jesus for days, when our modern world is hard pressed to gather for much more than an hour and many of our churches sit fairly empty.) Jesus' compassion was again evident because He did not want to send them home until they had eaten, afraid that they might grow weary and faint.
Instead of the disciples offering to collect all the bread they could find to bring to Jesus to bless and feed them as they had done before, they asked how they were supposed to feed the crowd. (I noticed a small difference in this exchange. This time when Jesus asked them how many loaves they had, they said seven. At the feeding of the 5000, Jesus asked them how many loaves they had, then told them to go and find out. Does this tell us that they learned something and had already counted so they would have an answer when He asked?) Jesus again asked them how much bread they had, to which they replied 7. However, they still did not know how to feed the people. Jesus had them all sit, blessed the bread, broke it and gave it to the disciples. He also blessed and used a few fish to feed the crowds. Just as in the feeding of the 5,000, they all ate until they were satisfied.
The disciples then gathered seven large baskets of leftovers. The baskets used here were much larger than the baskets used in the feeding of the 5,000. The Greek word for these baskets tells us these baskets were large enough to carry a man in. Compared to the baskets of the feeding of the 5,000, 7 of these baskets would equal about 12 of those smaller baskets. Satisfied that the crowd had eaten well, Jesus dismissed them and crossed over to a town named Magadan in the region of Dalmanutha on the opposite side of the Sea of Galilee.
Word spread that Jesus had landed and the religious rulers came to question His authority. They "demanded" that Jesus give them a miraculous sign from Heaven to prove His mission was authorized by God. (This reminds me of the time that the religious rulers said Jesus' power was of the devil, which was how He did so many miracles. Perhaps it is with that same thinking that these men wanted proof that His actions were of God not of Satan.)
Here are those people God had been chasing forever and again they refuse to believe unless it is spelled out for them. Spelled out is an understatement, what they wanted was a miraculous sign. Even that is too gentle, what they "demanded" was a miraculous sign. Can you feel Jesus exasperation? I can imagine He simply had no words and all He could muster was to, as the Scriptures say, "sigh heavily". He followed the sigh with "these people". Can you feel the frustration in those words? Perhaps they were spoken as we might say about troublesome neighbors, "those neighbors". Those people were of the Nation of Israel, the very people who had continually rejected God's efforts to reach out to them. Jesus strongly refused. Can we imagine the insult to the religious leaders when Jesus basically said, "No!" turned around, walked away and got back into the boat to again cross the lake?
Does this give us some insight into how Jesus might respond to those who say they will believe in Him if He gives them a sign? In this encounter, Jesus simply turned and walked away. How could anyone today expect anything more? If we come to Him with the kind of faith that demands signs and miracles, can we really expect a different response from Christ?
While in the boat, the disciples were dealing with the fact that they only had one loaf of bread. They may have been thinking about Jesus' encounters with the religious leader and perhaps looking forward to what they might encounter when they landed again. Jesus warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and of Herod. In bread making, a small amount of yeast will impact a large amount of dough when they are mixed together. Jesus was alerting them to the fact that the negative influence of he Pharisees and Herod mixed among the people could have a powerful impact. Those views could spread unbelief and doubt, corrupting the people's faith in an attempt to lead them away from Christ.
After Jesus' warning, the disciples started arguing about the lack of bread again. They missed Jesus' point completely. Jesus asked them why they were talking about bread. They still did not grasp why Jesus was with them. He asked if their hearts were too hard to understand. He said, "you have eyes, can't you see?" and "you have ears, can't you hear?". They have been with Him seeing the things He had done. They had been with Him, hearing His teachings and responses to those who were against them. Yet having all those experiences, they still did not understand. In an effort to help them grasp it all, He also asked them how many baskets of bread were left over when they fed the 5,000, to which they replied twelve. He asked them how many baskets were left over after feeding the 4,000, to which they replied seven.
So, they saw and heard those things but still did not understand what the feedings represented and who Jesus truly was. (We discussed that last week.)
When they arrived at Bethsaida, a blind man was brought to Jesus to be healed. As we have seen before, Jesus led him away from the crowd. He most likely wanted to have a personal or one-to-one time with the man. Perhaps the crowd would distract the man from paying attention and believing this could really happen. I think it is meaningful that Jesus "led" him way from his friends to a place where they could be together. Then Jesus put spit on the man's eyes and laid His hands on him, asking if he could see. The man replied that he could see some but that the people looked like walking trees. Jesus again, placed His hands on the man and then he saw clearly. (What struck me was Philippians 1:6, "Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." It caused me to think that Jesus would never only go part way with you but that He would always come into your life and finish what He started in you. He is in it for the duration, no matter what.) Because of Jesus' healing power the man was fully restored. We can also expect that because of His power to heal us spiritually, we can be confident that He will fully restore us spiritually. Jesus can come into a person's life whose spiritual eyes may be blinded by the lies of the evil one and the sinful ways of the world and change that. He can open their eyes to the truth of who He is and what He is here to do. He can open their eyes to the deceptions and lies they are fed every single day. With His merciful restoring of their sight to perfect sight, they can clearly see the truth, they can be restored to an eternity bound relationship with Jesus. Once He starts that process, He will stick with it until His work in them is completed.
Jesus had much to do and told the crowd to not go into the city and tell what they had seen, perhaps so He could do all that He had come there to do.
Jesus and the disciples left Galilee making their way to Caesarea Phiippi. While they walked, Jesus asked them who the people thought He was. They responded that some thought He was John the Baptist (as Herod Antipas thought), some Elijah, and others said He was a great prophet like in the times of old. Jesus then asked them who they thought He was. Peter, spokesperson for the group, answered, "You are the Messiah."
There were so many times that they seemed to not understand His mission nor who He was that this was an opportunity to ask them directly and allow them to be clear about what they believed. The next section of Mark and the final part of this chapter deals with Jesus predicting His death. Jesus knew He was going to talk to them about the things that were to come and had to be sure they understood that He was the Messiah. If they were to go with Him into the times ahead with an unsure faith, things would be extremely difficult for them. If they had not believed Jesus was the Messiah, can you imagine how their faith would be crushed at His death? Given that scenario, it would not be hard to imagine them scattering for good, stopping the work that they were to do following His death and resurrection.
Jesus then tells them He would be rejected by the elders and leading priests along with those who taught the religious law. He would be killed but rise from the dead three days later. Peter did not like any of what Jesus was saying and rebuked Him. Jesus then said, "Get away from me Satan!" I think that Jesus recognized Satan working in them and rebuked Satan directly. He saw Satan behind the words of His men. It would have been quite possible that Satan had used their love for Christ to get them to try to tempt Jesus to not go through with God's plan. I think the part about seeing things from a human perspective, not God's, was directed at Peter.
Then Jesus invited all the people that were around to join Him and the disciples. He told them that if they were to carry on His work as followers of His way, they would need to do certain things. They would have to turn from their selfish ways, take up their cross and follow Him. We hear "take up your cross" often but may not fully understand where it came from and how it applies to Christ.
In Roman times, a convicted criminal sentenced to die on the cross was forced to carry part of his cross through the streets of the town to the place he was to be executed. The person carrying the part of his cross gave a public display demonstrating his submission to Roman rule and authority. Therefore, a person taking up his cross was an expression of his obedience and submission to the authority that he had rebelled against.
For a Christian to take up his cross (daily) is a visual of one submitting to God and His ultimate authority. In doing so, we willingly place ourselves under His authority, Word, and Lordship. It also means, for His sake, we accept what comes our way because of our allegiance to Christ. Picture yourself back in Jesus' time. Imagine there is one kind or color of cross depicting Roman authority and one in another color or style depicting Jesus' authority. They both make the same statement of submission and obedience but to two different authorities. Can you picture that in your mind?
Jesus continued, telling them if they wanted to hang on to their life they would lose it and if they gave up their life, for Him and the Good News, they would actually find their life. So, if a man chose to continue in his selfish life and reject the call of Christ, that person would intimately lose his life to eternal death. However, if a man would give up his selfish, self-centered life for the sake of Christ and the truth of the Good News, he would ultimately find a life eternal, because those who followed Christ were promised eternal life.
Jesus went on to tell them that they could deny His call on their life, stay on the selfish path and get everything they ever wanted. But what would be the cost of doing that? The cost would be their very soul separated from God for eternity. He asked them if they thought it would be worth it. What could be worth a person's soul? Can we think of anything that would be worth it? Do we live like we believe that?
If any person were to be ashamed or reject Christ in the world they now live in, then when Jesus returns to His world (so to speak) the world in the presence of angels and His Father, He would be ashamed and reject them.
There is much to ponder here. I can picture the last parts of this chapter in my mind. Can you see yourself picking up your cross every day and carrying it to your office and recreation time letting it guide your decisions and choices? Can you picture what it would look life if you denied Christ here on earth and then visualize and feel what it would be like for Him to reject you before the Father? It seems to be an easy mental picture to produce. It is one that can help us see our place in the world and our allegiance to Christ.